Habitats

March 16, 2004

What
is a habitat?
A habitat
is a special place where a plant or animal calls home. Just like you have
a home or place to live, so do animals and plants. When we talk about
an animal or a plant's home it is more like a neighborhood than a "house."
An animal needs four things to survive in its habitatfood, water,
shelter, and a place to raise its young. Just like you have to go to the
store to get food, an animal leaves its "shelter" to get the
things they need to live. If the population's
needs aren't met, it will move to a better habitat.

Working Together
There are many plants and animals that will share the same habitat. The
animals and plants that live together in a habitat form a "community."
The community of living things interacts with the non-living world around
it to form the ecosystem.

Because
resources like water and food may be limited, plant and animal species
often compete with each other for food and water. The only way that they
can all live together is if they occupy slightly different niches
or hold different "jobs" in the community. No two species can
occupy exactly the same niche. They all have their own jobs or niche in
the community.

A
niche is the smallest unit of a habitat that is occupied by a plant or
animal. The habitat niche is the physical space occupied by the plant
or animal. The ecological niche is the role the plant or animal plays
in the community found in the habitat.

There
are lots of different habitat types on Earth. Habitat examples could include
lakes, streams, forests, or even a drop of water. All habitats on the
Earth are part of the biosphere. Because the Earth is always changing,
habitats are constantly changing. Habitats that have similar climate and
plants are called biomes.

For more
information on how plants and animals interact in the ecosystem, check
out our Ecology page!